RACE 1

Luca Filippi is the first ever Auto GP winner, the Italian talent drove an amazing race, taking full advantage of Euronova's tactics. Being one of the few drivers (alongside Piscopo and Tappy) still having a set of new tyres, Filippi chose an early pit-stop on lap 4, and from then on had pushed hard with a clear track in front of him. From the tyre change on, Filippi's laps were all below 1'45, and this allowed him to pass all his opponents while they were doing their pit-stops.

Despite being very fast on track, Edoardo Piscopo and Fabio Onidi could not match Filippi's pace, and had to fight for second position, from two very different race tactics. Onidi decided to stop for tyres at the last possible moment, but having no new sets was clearly disadvantaged. When the Lazarus driver got back on track after the pit-stop, the DAMS car of Piscopo was in front of him: very fast and focused from the start, Edoardo clinched a well deserved second place.

While Filippi had a clear race, things were quite different for the rest of the group, right from the start when the poleman Jonny Reid stalled his car. All the field managed to avoid the SuperNova car but this situation mixed up the positions: Jan Charouz did a wonderful start moving from 10th to 5th, and also the RP duo, Bizzarri and Miguez, found the right way through the pack, while Zaugg and Leal lost some places.

Just a few laps after the start the second SuperNova car retired from the race with Pantano involved in a race crash with the Brazilian Iaconelli which saw the Safety Car out for two laps. At the restart there was some fighting among the RP Motorsport cars, with Bizzarri passing Miguez and Miguez overtaking his team mate again on the following corner. The Spanish driver, on lap 5, was the first to pit with Filippi and Zaugg.

Pit-stops did create some overtaking opportunities: thanks to a good pace and to his team's job in the pits Jan Charouz managed to overtake Arabadzhiev for fourth, but after exiting from the pits he had to keep Duncan Tappy at bay. The Czech and the Englishman drove two corners side by side, but Charouz closed the door and took the checkered flag in 4th position. Behind Tappy, Tambay took 6th after a fierce fight with Arabadzhiev, with the Bulgarian driver just three tenths adrift at the end of the race, Adrian Zaugg was eighth, the final points scoring position. this means that he will start from pole in Race 2.

Luca Filippi:

"I knew that having new tires I had to race alone to take the best from them. So we opted for that early pit stop and everything went as planned. I even studied the pit entry and exit to be the fastest driver even there, and now I can say that it was very useful".

Edoardo Piscopo:

"I had a good start, and I tried to put pressure on Onidi. Despite being quicker I couldn't pass him. I managed to do that thanks to the team's tactics, and being second is good, it's a good starting point. In this race Filippi was quicker, but not by much".

Fabio Onidi:

"I knew that with no new tires I was disadvantaged, and I tried to push as much as I could from the start of the race. After seeing that the car was quick and the feeling OK, I decided for a late stop. Being on the podium is good for the championship, but after leading the race it's a bit disappointing".

Race 1 Result

1. Luca Filippi (Euronova Racing) 17 laps in 32'"28'658
2. Edoardo Piscopo (Dams) + 5"896
3. Fabio Onidi (Lazarus) + 9"236
4. Jan Charouz (Charouz-Gravity Racing) +14"524
5. Duncan Tappy (Dams) +16"056
6. Adrien Tambay (Charouz-Gravity Racing) +25"073
7. Vladimir Arabadzhiev (Dams) +25"426
8. Adrian Zaugg (Trident Racing) +29"133
9. Walter Grubmüller (Charouz-Gravity Racing) +29"795
10. Julian Leal (Trident Racing) +30"466
11. Celso Miguez (RP Motorsport) +36"461
12. Stefano Bizzarri (RP Motorsport) +45"558
13. Jonny Reid (SuperNova) + 1 giro

Fastest lap: Filippi in 1'44"003 avg. 187,022 km/h

Retirements: Giorgio Pantano - crash. Carlos Iaconelli - crash. Tomas Kostka - DNS.

RACE 2

Vladimir Arabadzhiev couldn't choose a better way to debut in the Lola B05/52 Auto GP car. The Bulgarian driver took the win in the second race on the Brno circuit, keeping Adrian Zaugg at bay, even if only half a second adrift. Starting from the front row besides Zaugg who was the poleman Arabadzhiev made a perfect start and immediately taking the lead, at the first braking zone. From then on Arabadzhiev stayed in the lead managing to resist to Zaugg's impressive pace and pressure.

Behind them was Edoardo Piscopo, closing his Czech weekend with two podium finishes and with the lead of the championship, shared with Luca Filippi. Piscopo, starting from 7th, was involved in a close fight after the green light with Fabio Onidi and Duncan Tappy, but he was helped by his opponents mistakes and bad luck. The first to go out of contention was Tappy, who had to serve a drive-through penalty for jump start, then it was the turn of Onidi, stopped on track on lap 7 with an electrical issue.

At that point in the race Piscopo was 4th and started pushing to catch Adrien Tambay in front of him. The Frenchman was doing a perfect race and was ready to get a podium finish, but with just two laps to go he locked the front wheels and went in the barriers, luckily with no damage to him and just a broken wing for the car.

Tambay's off meant 4th place for a really fast Julian Leal: the driver from Bogota, starting from tenth, managed a great comeback, also clinching the third fastest time of the race. The overall fastest time came from Luca Filippi. The winner of the first race had a bad start in Race 2, and soon he was locked in a duel for 11th place with Pantano and Iaconelli, so he decided to go back in the pits to take new tyres.

Back on track, Filippi stopped the clocks on 1'43”260, which is the new official track record for the Brno track. Auto GP managed to beat the old record, 1'47”296 held by A1 GP with Alex Yoong at the wheel, by 4 seconds.

With the fastest lap point, Filippi climbed on top of the standings with Piscopo. This means that the two will share 130.000 euros, which is the total of the first and second place prize.

Vladimir Arabadzhiev:

“Frankly, I was not sure about my chances to win because I was racing on old tires, with already 11 laps on them. Anyway, I did a great start, and from then on things were easy. The car was slippery and Adrian was gaining time in the fast section, but I was able to build up the gap in the other sectors, so it was good”.

Adrian Zaugg:

“I'm not happy about the start, but the race was good. I have to thank the team, because they guessed the right set-up for the race 2 track conditions, and this made my job easier. I tried attacking Vladimir, but when I got close I was losing grip, so passing was not possible”.

Edoardo Piscopo:

“Two podium finishes are great, you have to be consistent if you want to win races and this is a great start. I'm happy for the guys at DAMS, working so hard for me, and for myself. I needed some good results after being so unlucky in the last months”.

Race 2 Result

1. Vladimir Arabadzhiev (Dams) 13 giri in 22'58”445
2. Adrian Zaugg (Trident Racing) +0”486
3. Edoardo Piscopo (Dams) + 2”304
4. Julian Leal (Trident Racing) +4”365
5. Walter Grubmüller (Charouz-Gravity Racing) +5”859
6. Jan Charouz (Charouz-Gravity Racing) +8”101
7. Jonny Reid (SuperNova) +9”025
8. Carlos Iaconelli (Durango) +12”227
9. Giorgio Pantano (SuperNova) +15”689
10. Celso Miguez (RP Motorsport) +20”204
11. Duncan Tappy (Dams) +22”869
12. Stefano Bizzarri (RP Motorsport) +26”179
13. Luca Filippi (Euronova Racing) +1'02”946
14. Adrien Tambay (Charouz-Gravity Racing) +2 giri
15. Fabio Onidi (Lazarus) + 6 giri
16. Tomas Kostka (Charouz-Gravity Racing) DNS

Fastest lap: Filippi in 1’43”260 avg di 188,367 km/h

Drivers Standings: 1. Filippi e Piscopo 12 points; 3. Arabadzhiev 8; 4. Zaugg, Charouz and Onidi 6; 7. Tappy 4; 8. Leal e Tambay 3; 10. Grubmueller 2; 11. Reid 1.

Teams standings: 1. DAMS 22 points; 2. Euronova 12; 3. Charouz-Gravity Racing 11; 4. Trident 9; 5. Lazarus 6; 6. SuperNova 1.

All pictures Auto GP.

Race 1 winner Luca Filippi waits on the grid



Filippi celebrates at the end of the race.



The Euronova team on the winners podium.



Second for Edoardo Piscopo.



Third placed Fabio Onidi leads the rest of the field.



Jan Charouz took fourth.



Seventh for Vladimir Arabadzhiev.



Adrian Zaug could only finish eighth.



The RP Motorsport car of Celso Miguez.



A crash ended Giorgio Pantano's chances.



Race 2 winner Vladimir Arabadzhiev is congratulated by his team.



Vladimir Arabadzhiev dominated Race 2



Adrian Zaug took the runner-up spot.



The start of Race 2.



Giorgio Pantano was able to finish Race 2 after starting from the back of the grid.



Adrien Tambay.



Race 2 podium.